


Valid Reasons

by Qayin



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017), Riverdale (TV 2017) RPF
Genre: A-spec, Aromantic, Aromantic Asexual Jughead Jones, Aromantic Jughead Jones, Asexual Jughead Jones, Asexuality, F/M, Gen, bughead - Freeform, mention of Bughead?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 16:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19727191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qayin/pseuds/Qayin
Summary: “How come you and Betty broke up? You two were so great together.” Archie’s question breaks the silence of the forest. He knew it was coming, but Jughead had dreaded it none the same.“Yeah, we were,” he said truthfully.Out by the lake Jughead and Archie tries to work out recent events, and Jughead tries to explain why he broke up with Betty. Aro-ace Jughead.





	Valid Reasons

“How come you and Betty broke up? You two were so great together.” Archie’s question breaks the silence of the forest. He knew it was coming, but Jughead had dreaded it none the same.

“Yeah, we were,” he said truthfully and just a little stalling for time. Next to the riverbank glittered a wet, smooth rock and he picked it up and tossed it over the water. It skipped twice on the surface before it disappeared into the dark, velvety expanse. 

Archie stopped behind him and Jughead could feel his questioning eyes. “So what happened?”

“Nothing happened.” He said and shrugged. It was the truth. “I mean, being with Betty was great.” 

He picked up another rock. Archie joined him by the water and did the same. Jugheads new throw skipped three times, and Archie’s four. Somehow it made the whole thing a little easier to talk about when they weren’t looking at each other and had something to do. Jughead picked a glistening white stone.

“I really liked it,” he said pensively. “You know, texting in the morning, always meeting up for lunch, calling each other before we went to bed, even though we already knew everything that had happened during the day, that was…” Jughead hesitated. 

It had been fun. He really liked talking to Betty, and the consistent habits they had fallen into had been very soothing because he always knew what he had to expect. Betty went to sleep around 21.30, she called him, they talked until she almost fell asleep and they said their good nights. Sometimes she fell asleep before they had the chance to say goodbye, and then Jughead would leave the phone on in case the phone would make some sound when he hanged up which would wake her. 

“That was nice.” He said eventually and sighed. “But I also felt, I don’t know, bad. Not because of anything she did,” he said quickly and glanced at Archie to make sure he didn’t take offense. Betty was after all Archie’s friend too, and if there was anything Jughead didn’t want was to imply that Betty was at fault here. “But I just had this huge pressure in my chest all the time, and sometimes when Betty came up to me and I didn’t know she was going to touch me I’d get these shivers all through my body and my skin would just feel wrong, you know?”

Archie looked at him. He looked hesitant, but replied. “Not really.” Jughead looked to the grey sky like it held the answers. 

“Kind of like, when you hear nails on chalkboard and you tense up, or need to like physically shake it off.” Archie frowned and shivered, and then he nodded. 

“I get that feeling.” 

“It was like that,” said Jughead. “And it was better if I could see she was going to touch me, but if I didn’t…” he didn’t even want to think about it. “And then when we’d have sex,” he continued. Archie shifted embarrassed, but Jughead had never been embarrassed from talking about such things — they didn’t really matter that much to him to be embarrassed in the first place. “I felt completely out of place. Like, I’d focus so much on what I should do, and when I should do them, or how I should do this or that, and it was exhausting. I felt like a robot.” 

“But,” said Archie slowly. “It’s like that the first few times, but then you get more confident. I don’t think you should give up someone like Betty just because a few bad first times.” Jughead looked at him. 

“Oh, it wasn’t just a first few times, we had a lot of sex.” 

Archie’s wrinkled-up face almost made him want to laugh, but the conversation pressed to heavily between them for him to do so. 

“I felt really stressed, man,” Jughead continued. “And on top of that, I also felt so incredibly guilty all the time. 

“It felt like I was keeping something from Betty, but also like I didn’t even know what I was feeling guilty over, you know?” Archie was silent for a while. 

“Yeah, I get that,” he said slowly. “Before I told my dad about my music I used to feel really mad, like no one understood me, but also like, guilty for feeling that way?” They looked at each other until the moment got too much and Archie broke away and cleared his throat. 

“Yeah, like that,” said Jughead and tossed another stone into the water. Around them the woods creaked a little in the wind. “And I mean, Betty’s like a genius, right, so she knew something was up.” 

Of course she knew. There’s only so many kisses a boyfriend can try to avoid before a girlfriend realizes something is wrong. Betty had tried to talk with him, on multiple times about it, she just seemed to so concerned — and not because he was keeping something from her, but concerned for him, like she knew he wasn’t feeling well. Those were probably the hardest times because he just tried to wave her off and the guilt would be eating him alive. 

“And one night it just got too much and I just broke down.” They had been in Betty’s room and her parents were away for the night. They hadn’t even been doing anything sexual, Jughead had been reading out loud from a textbook that were going to be pop quizzed next week with his head in Betty’s lap while Betty threaded her fingers through his hair. Suddenly everything had just welled up, the guilt, the aching, swirling anxiety in the pit of his stomach, the spikes of wrongness on his skin, and then he was crying, even though sobbing was more like it. 

Betty had tried to calm him, she asked what was wrong, she had even hugged him. It had been awful. She was too kind, and he didn’t know what was wrong and could she just please not touch him! 

But Betty, being Betty, had of course not left him alone. She had allowed him to pull away from her, but as he cried she tried to offer her support the best she could. He could tell she didn’t know how when she wasn’t allowed to pet and hug him, but she talked calmly and it didn’t take much prompting before all his emotions just spilled out of him, including everything that felt weird or bad and how mad he was at himself for feeling this way. 

‘But that’s okay, Juggie,’ was all she said when he was done. 

Betty and he had talked the entire night after that, about their feelings, about sexualities, emotions and, above all, pressure from other people. 

They didn’t break up as much as they stopped being boyfriend/girlfriend, and that wasn’t until two months after the Breakdown, as Jughead called it. They called it off when he was ready for it, and he felt guilty about that too, but Betty really helped him navigate some weird shit, both in his life and on internet when he tried to understand himself. He guess he did now, at least a little bit. 

He had liked being with Betty because she was a very good friend, but actually being together? That had been too hard, and Betty not only helped him accept that, but she also taught him that other people felt the same way — probably not a bunch, but they were definitely there, just like him, and they were all valid. 

Jughead took a deep breath, stared out over the dark lake while his heart beat loudly in his ears. 

“I’m asexual.” he said to Archie, to the lake, just out loud. It felt exciting, and scary; absolutely terrifying to say to anyone else other than Betty. What had he been thinking, going out in the middle of the woods to say it without a convenient escape? He hadn’t thought this fishing trip through at all. When Archie didn’t respond right away Jughead turned to look at him, and more words just followed, just like at the Breakdown. It was like they had hidden beneath his tongue for so long that they just needed to come out. 

“And I had to break up with Betty because I’m aromantic. And I don’t like other people touching me — like, sometimes it’s okay, like it doesn’t hurt, but it makes me feel uncomfortable, like my skin is all wrong.” 

Archie looked at him, then out over the lake like he searched for words. Dread filled Jugheads stomach, but then Archie spoke. 

“I mean,” he said hesitantly. Archie bent down and picked up a stone. “That’s great man.” He looked to Jughead and held out the stone for him, a small, smooth reddish pebble. “I don’t really know a lot about any of that, but as long as your happy, I’m good.” Archie smiled and for a brief moment the sun peaked through the clouds and lit up his red hair. Relief flushed through him and Jughead smiled too. He accepted the stone. 

“Thanks man.” Archie shrugged and looked around. 

“So, uh, bro hug?” he said questioningly. “I mean, unless you don’t want to, of course.” Jughead grinned. 

“Fist bump?” he asked instead and held out his hand. Archie grinned too and they knocked hands.

“How’s Betty handling it?” Archie asked. Jughead crocked his head and thought about how everything had changed. He had stopped calling her every night, because she did have romantic feelings towards him and even if she was understanding of his feelings it wasn’t fair to her if he kept acting like her boyfriend. He thought about how she and Veronica had lunch to themselves, but how Betty had smiled at him from across the room when she saw him, and Veronica had given him a little wave. Perhaps, in a little while, they could go back to being really good friends. 

“I don’t know,” he said truthfully and pocketed the little red stone. “But she’ll be alright. We’ll be okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer, I didn't watch more than a few episodes of Riverdale, but I really liked Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper as characters, and I tried my best to make their relationship seem like something that naturally evolved before Jughead managed to come to terms with his aro-ace identity. 
> 
> I'm ace myself, but not aro, so forgive me if somethings seem - a little off? Too romance-y? I really wanted to portray it like Jughead enjoyed the experience he shared with Betty, like talking with her every night, because they were really good friends, but not something else. 
> 
> Anyhow, hope you liked it and please leave kudos and comments, I love (validation) to hear what you have to say!


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